Electronic event facilitating systems and methods

ABSTRACT

Electronic systems and methods for developing a person&#39;s cognitive skills such as feedback giving skills are contemplated. The systems and methods provide a procedure through which participants follow to formulate and issue feedback to other individuals. Feedback is given through a feedback app. The systems and methods involve participation of feedback recipients and also judges. The procedure involves each feedback recipient giving a presentation in a period of time and each judge providing feedback to each presentation. The procedure is performed by executing an event which can be created from an event app provided by the system. The event app also executes the created event, and completion of the event allows the system to provide feedback results to the participants, feedback recipients, judges, and other individuals based on information received during the event. The flow of the event is also controllable from the event app.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This applications claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application62/830,329, filed Apr. 5, 2019, the entirety of which is hereinincorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally related to the field of humanresources technology including event facilitating systems and methodsand cognitive development of employees.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Human resources technology is a rapidly growing field supported bygrowing recognition that a company requires better tools for supportinga company's overall growth and competitiveness. A significant amount oftime and resources have been directed in the industry to developinginteractive tools, systems, software or other computer-implementedresources that improve human resources related functions and operations.Various challenges can exist related, for example, to effectiveness,value provided, ease of use, adoption, objectiveness, and technicalimplementation. One component of human resources technology is directedto the development of employees' cognitive skills such as their abilityto make decisions or develop good judgment. Known systems have beenfocusing very little on such development.

Moreover, organizations such as corporations, nonprofits, andgovernments typically exhibit a distinct corporate or organizationalculture. Aspects of corporate culture include corporate norms, values,and behaviors of employees. Negative corporate culture or negativeaspects of corporate culture may cause increased employee turnover,reduced employee productivity, or reduced employee engagement. Currentsystems do not appear to provide exercises through which employees canbe trained so that the chance of an organization exhibiting negativecorporate culture or the negative aspects in the existing culture can bereduced. Additionally, the training systems may not be tailored todifferent cultures (e.g., those that the culture seeks as goodbehaviors).

HR departments and other managements at many organizations may alsoattempt to improve aspects of corporate culture. However, attempts atimproving culture by organizations may be based on intuition oranecdotal data. There are computing systems that may allow a humanresources department to generate surveys that may be completed byemployees. These surveys, however, are merely used to gather responsesto the questions being asked and are directed to organizationalperformance measurement. They either do not improve employees' cognitiveskill or provide minimal feedback giving training to employees, even ifthey do.

Organizations may also use internal feedback mechanisms. Some existingfeedback mechanisms allow employees to select limited, predeterminedwords, phrases, and sentences and delay the messages for a period oftime. Without the ability to permit the feedback giver to construct hisoriginal and genuine message, using such mechanisms to improve feedbackgiving skill is also inadequate, as the message to be composed isrestricted or controlled in some ways. Some existing feedback mechanismsinvolve a feedback supervisor who is assigned to accept or rejectfeedback before it is sent to the intended individual. The feedbacksupervisor may reject or delete a message he determines to beinappropriate such that the message is never sent to the individual.These messages, however, do not receive consecutive feedback from othersand the feedback giver may not know why the message was returned ordeleted (e.g., inappropriate but do not know exactly why the message isinappropriate when the message is the sender's genuine message). Absenceof such feedback is also a lack of the guidance that the sender mightneed in order to compose effective messages in the future. Approval ofthe message also depends on one person's opinion and it is unclearwhether that person's opinion is accurate. Other feedback supervisorsmight disagree and approve the message instead. The sender is alsounaware of how his opinion is compared to other senders who might havesimilar opinions that accurately describe the situation. Approval by thefeedback supervisor also inserts a delay between the moment the feedbackgiver sends the message and the moment the feedback recipient receivesthe message.

Most importantly, none of the aforementioned feedback mechanisms andsystems provide a tool or exercises that can help feedback givers andrecipients to develop cognitive skills. There are no systems that buildthis training tool into the exercise of giving feedback to others. Thereare also no technologies that can integrate this type of training intothe feedback system or a user interface of the feedback systemsatisfactorily.

Accordingly, there remains a need for HR technology related to systemsfor administering meetings that involve feedback systems and that aredirected to provide exercises through which a person's feedback givingskill can be improved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with principles of the invention, a system forfacilitating events is contemplated. The system comprises a firstelectronic device implementing a first event software application. Thefirst event software application configures the first electronic deviceto create events and execute events. The created event includes aplurality of stages and the plurality of stages include a first stage(e.g., presentation) that has a time duration, a second stage (e.g.,participants formulating and issuing feedback) that has a time duration,and third stages (e.g., judge giving numerical rating and verbalfeedback) that each has a time duration. The first electronic deviceconfigured by the first event software application allows user to createan event by inputting the time duration of the first stage (e.g.,presentation time such as 3, 5, 7, or 10 minutes) and select individualsto be associated with the first stage and individuals to be associatedwith the third stages. The time durations of the second and third stagesare predetermined by the first event software application. The firstelectronic device configured by the first event software applicationfurther generates a meeting tag of the event in response to the creationof the event.

The first event software application further configures the firstelectronic device to implement: (a) a timer configured to operate and tobe displayed with the plurality of stages; (b) a plurality of commandsconfigured to control progress of the event; and (c) a user interfaceconfigured to receive feedback information (e.g., numerical ratings fromthe judges).

The first event software application further configures the firstelectronic device to execute the event (or the plurality of stages inthe event) in a sequence and the plurality of commands include commandsconfigured to initiate and pause the timer displayed with the pluralityof stages upon user selection and a command configured to advance fromone stage in the plurality of stages to another stage in the pluralityof stages upon user selection.

The system also comprises a second electronic device implementing asecond event software application that configures the second electronicdevice to communicate with the first electronic device and presentexecution of the event and operation of the timer to individuals in realtime on a monitor based on the communication (or based on the meetingtag accessed through the communication). The advancement from the onestage to the other stage and the operation of the timer being presentedto the individuals on the monitor by the second electronic device dependon user selection of the corresponding command on the first electronicdevice.

The system further comprises a mobile device implementing a feedbacksoftware application that configures the mobile device to allow thefeedback giver to formulate and transmit feedback to other devices andidentify the event using the meeting tag. The second stage is configuredto display the meeting tag. The second stage allows the feedback giverto formulate and transmit feedback for the identified event from themobile device. The identified event on the mobile device is selectableby the feedback giver to formulate and transmit feedback for theidentified event. The timer is further configured to operate and to bedisplayed with the second stage, and the commands are further configuredto initiate and pause the timer displayed with the second stage.

The system is configured to generate feedback results after the firstelectronic device finishes executing the event. The feedback results arebased on the feedback information received from the first electronicdevice, feedback received from the mobile device by the feedback giverduring the third stage, and the selected individuals associated with thefirst and second stages.

Counterpart method and computer-readable medium embodiments would beunderstood from the above and the overall disclosure. Methods,processes, procedures, and steps described in this application areprotocols, algorithms, or computer instructions readable by a processorand stored on the non-transient computer readable medium. Such mediummay be permanent or semi-permanent memory such as hard drive, floppydrive, optical disk, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, etc., as would beknown to those of ordinary skill in the art. Also, broader, narrower, ordifferent combinations of the described features are contemplated, suchthat, for example, features can be removed or added in a broadening ornarrowing way.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various features of examples in accordance with the principles describedherein may be more readily understood with reference to the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, where like reference numerals designate like structuralelements, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of the system for developing cognitiveskills of individuals in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the system, or anotherimplementation of the system, for developing cognitive skills ofindividuals in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a first screen or the main screen of the master eventsoftware application in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a second screen or an event creation screen of themaster event software application in accordance with some embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a default algorithm and a timer of the master eventsoftware application in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an initial screen of the slave application showing asummary of the event created by the master application in accordancewith some embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A-7C illustrate presenter screens of the slave applicationshowing a presentation duration and a countdown in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates participant feedback giving screen of the slaveapplication in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 9A-9D illustrate judge-feedback-score giving screens of the slaveapplication in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 10A-10C illustrate judge-verbal-feedback giving screens of theslave application in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a conclusion screen of the slave application thatincludes a report command that is configured to generate or showfeedback results upon selection in accordance with some embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a basic feedback result screen of the slaveapplication in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 13 illustrates an advanced feedback result screen of the slaveapplication in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14 illustrates a system including the master and slave applicationsin accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 15 illustrates an operation of the master and slave applicationsshown in FIG. 14 in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 16 illustrates another operation of the master and slaveapplications shown in FIG. 14 in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates another operation of the master and slaveapplications shown in FIG. 14 in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 18 illustrates another operation of the master and slaveapplications shown in FIG. 14 in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 19 illustrates another operation of the master and slaveapplications shown in FIG. 14 in accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system fordeveloping a person's cognitive skills. In one embodiment, the system isdirected to developing a person's feedback giving skills. The systemexecutes or provides a procedure through which participants (e.g.,audience, audience participants, or feedback givers) follow to formulateand issue feedback to other individuals (e.g., feedback recipients).Feedback is given through a feedback app. The system also involvesparticipation of feedback recipients and judges, in addition toparticipants. Judges are people who have more experience in givingaccurate, constructive feedback than the participants, who have alreadydeveloped such skills, who have a higher standard for giving feedback(e.g., positive or negative feedback) than the participants, or who arefeedback giving experts. The procedure involves each feedback recipientgiving a presentation or performing other activities (presenters) in aperiod of time and each judge providing verbal feedback to eachpresentation. The feedback given by a judge may be referred to as areference feedback to which participant's feedback can be compared. Theprocedure is performed by executing an “event” or “meeting” which can becreated from an event app or event apps provided by the system. Theevent app(s) also executes the created event, and completion of theevent or procedure allows the system to provide feedback results to theparticipants, feedback recipients, judges, and other individuals basedon information received during the event (information received, forexample, includes event information, participants' feedback, and judges'feedback). The flow of the procedure is also controllable from the eventapp.

The system processes receive information in a manner to isolate,anonymize, and secure feedback giver identity information (exceptjudge's identity information). The system is also configured to assurethat only the people within an enterprise can use the system, eventapps, and feedback app, such as providing an authentication systemthrough the individuals need to login with their credentials. Details ofthese anonymization and authentication processes are described inapplication No. 62/807,693, the entirety of which is incorporated byreference. A copy of application No. 62/807,693 is also attached withthis application. As a result, the feedback results are presented on adisplay or to audience without revealing feedback givers' identities(e.g., feedback givers' identities cannot be shown on the display or arenot available to the event software application because the particularway the system operates, except judges' identities) and yet are stillable to convey meaningful information that each feedback giver can viewand use to determine how his feedback or rating is compared to otherparticipants and the judges. The conveyed information is an integrationof received information and serves a guide or benchmark to eachparticipant for formulating future feedback for presentations thatinvolve similar presentation characteristics (e.g., styles, techniques,tones, flaws, strengths, or a combination thereof).

The event apps, in conjunction with the feedback app, can be used totrain and improve participants' feedback giving skills and is indirectlydeveloping cognitive skills. The event apps and the feedback app can beprovided as tools for employees of an enterprise to develop theirfeedback giving skills anonymously (e.g., participants are employees).The system for developing a person's cognitive skills is designed toaccelerate learning, in particular to accelerate learning how to givefeedback to peers by entering feedback and learning from judges'feedback. The system anonymizes feedback giver's identities and isconfigured to protect external input or login. Only employees of thecompany are allowed to use the event apps and feedback app. Variationsof this approach are contemplated.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of the system 100 for developingcognitive skills of individuals. The system 100 includes a firstelectronic device 105 implementing a first or master event softwareapplication, a second electronic device 110 implementing a second orslave event software application, one or more participant electronicdevices (or third electronic devices) 115 implementing a feedbacksoftware application, a feedback processing system 120, and an eventprocessing system 122.

The devices 105, 110, 115 can transmit and receive data over acommunications network 125 such as the internet and they include thenecessary hardware and software that supports communications over thenetwork.

Operation of the system 100 involves participation of a group ofindividuals who are scheduled to give presentations or perform otheractivities (presenters or feedback recipients) 130, a group ofindividuals who are provided an opportunity to write feedback (audienceor feedback givers), and a group of individuals who are responsible forgiving reference feedback or spoken feedback (judges) 135. Each of thepresenters 130 and judges 135 may access an electronic device 140, 145that can access an online meeting, web conferencing, orvideoconferencing software application such as WebEx so their activities(video and audio) can be transmitted to other electronic devices 105,110, 115 and individuals. Presenters 130 and judges 135 may or may notbe in the same location or room. Electronic devices 105, 110, 115 alsohave access to similar conferencing software applications so they canreceive their transmission and interact with the presenters and judgesif necessary. Electronic devices 140, 145 can also communicate withother electronic devices over the network 125. In some embodiments, thepresenters 130 and judges 135 may not need access to an electronicdevice or WebEx to transmit their activities. For example, electronicdevices are not necessary when the presenters 130, judges 135,participants 115, and users of the first electronic device 105 andsecond electronic device 110 are in the same location or room where thejudges 135, the participants, and users can watch and hear theactivities in person. The presenters 130 and judges 135, or theirelectronic devices 140, 145, may not need to communicate over thenetwork 125.

The feedback software application provides a user interface that allowsan individual or participant to compose and send a freestyle feedbackmessage (i.e., participant can type any words he wishes and send hisoriginal message, the message is not filtered, approved, or delayed)over the network 125. Participants may also be referred to as audience,audience participants, or feedback givers. Participants may or may notbe in the same location as the presenters and/or judges. Participantsmay follow the progress of the event or watch the event in person orthrough the slave application (or the screens displayed by the slaveapplication). The participant electronic devices 115 with the feedbacksoftware application are implemented using the employees' personalphones or handheld devices that have the feedback software applicationinstalled on them. As such, each participant has a mobile phone that hasthe feedback app or ability to use the feedback software application onit. Each of the participant electronic devices 115 with the feedbacksoftware application implemented is considered as a device that is partof the feedback processing system 120. The feedback processing system120 is configured to receive feedback messages and process them toanonymize and secure participants' identities. The feedback softwareapplication can be used every day by the employees and is available andfunctional outside of the master and slave applications and the createdevents for the everyday service of providing feedback to others in thegroup or company. The feedback processing system 120 is also configuredto receive data from the first electronic device 105 and the participantelectronic devices 115, process the received data, and produce feedbackresults based on the processed data. The feedback software applicationand the feedback processing system 120, for example, can be thosedescribed in application No. 62/807,693, the entirety of which isincorporated by reference.

The event processing system 122, in some embodiments, is aserver-implemented system (e.g., cloud-based system) that functions toprovide the features and services in conjunction with a master eventsoftware application and a slave event software application.

Although FIG. 1 shows only one first electronic device 105, the system100 can include additional first electronic devices 105 with eachimplementing a master event software application. The same also appliesto the second electronic device 110. The system 100 can includeadditional second electronic devices 110 with each implementing a slaveevent software application. The combination of the first electronicdevice(s) 105 and the second electronic device(s) 110 are referred to asthe event facilitating system, or the event facilitating softwareapplication. The first electronic device with the master event softwareapplication installed may be referred to as the master eventfacilitating device. The second electronic device with the slave eventsoftware application installed may be referred to as the slave eventfacilitating device. The participant electronic device with the feedbacksoftware application installed may be referred to as the feedbacksubmission device. It is understood that descriptions of the masterevent software application, slave event software application, and thefeedback software application are equally applicable to the electronicdevices on which they are implemented (e.g., description of theoperation of the master event software application is applicable to theoperation of the first electronic device).

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the system 200, or anotherimplementation 200 of the system, for developing cognitive skills ofindividuals. Implementation 200 shows that the master event facilitatingdevice 105, the slave event facilitating device 110, the feedbacksubmission device 115 and their users, the presenters 130, and thejudges are all in the same location or room 150. Device 105, device 110,device 115, the feedback processing system 120, and the event processingsystem 122 communicate with each other over the network 125. Althoughonly one feedback submission device 115 is shown being connected to thenetwork 125, and although the devices and people are shown in the samelocation, it is understood these devices and people can be in differentlocations and communicate over the network 125 in the manner depicted inFIG. 1 .

Description will now be directed to the master event softwareapplication (the master application). FIGS. 3-5 illustrate part of theuser interface of the master application and operations of the masterapplication.

FIG. 3 illustrates a first screen or the main screen 300 of the masterapplication. The main screen 300 includes a calendar 305 with dates thatare selectable by the user of the master application to view eventsscheduled for that date (each date is a date command 307 or buttonselectable by the user). The main screen 300 also includes a section 310displaying upcoming events and a section 315 displaying past events. Themain screen 300 further includes an event creation command 320 that isconfigured to present an event creation screen upon selection.

FIG. 4 illustrates a second screen or an event creation screen 400 ofthe master application. The event creation screen 400 includes a setupsection 405 having a plurality of commands that allow the user to inputinformation about the event that is about to be created. The commands,for example, include a date and time command 410 that allows the user toenter the date and time of the event, an event type command 415 thatallows the user to select the type of the event (e.g., presentation onskill-related topics, presentation on leadership-related topics,presentation on revenue-related topics), an event name command 420 thatallows the user to type the name of the event, an audience size command425 that allows the user to select an audience size (e.g., between50-100 people) or a particular group within the enterprise (e.g.,marketing department and the employees in that department), an eventlength command 427 that allows the user to pick the anticipated lengthof the event, and a sub-event length command 430 that allows the user tochoose the anticipated length of the sub-event (e.g., a presentation).For example, an event may be 60 minutes long and include threesub-events with each being 5 minutes long.

The event creation screen 400 also includes a presenter selectioncommand 435 or a feedback recipient selection command. The masterapplication may include a database storing identities of all theemployees within the enterprise. In some embodiments, the database maybe a human resources database of the enterprise and the masterapplication is configured to communicate with that database to obtainthe names of all the employees. The presenter selection command 435allows the user to select presenters or feedback recipients from a listof employees obtained from the database. The selected presenters areindividuals who would be giving presentations or performing otheractivities at the event to be created, with each presenter scheduled topresent or perform in a sub-event.

The event creation screen 400 further includes a judge selection command440 that allows the user to select certain people to be the judges. Themaster application may include another database storing identities ofall the available judges. This database may also be located in anotherlocation and the master application may be configured to communicatewith that database over the network to obtain the names of all theavailable judges.

The event creation screen 400 includes a command 440 (e.g., savecommand) to create an event based on the information input in theaforementioned commands after the user selects the command 440. Afterthe event is saved or created, the created event may be displayed in theupcoming events section 110 (FIG. 1 ) if the current date is close tothe date of the created event and be associated with the calendar 105(FIG. 1 ) based on the date of the created event. The user can accessthe created event from the upcoming events section 110 or the calendarby selecting the date of the created event. Upon selection, the masterapplication displays the event creation screen with previously enteredinformation. The user can then edit the event by changing the date,time, length, or other information of the event or sub-event, byremoving a selected presenter or judge from the event, by adding anotherpresenter or judge to the event, or by changing a combination thereof.The event is updated after the user selects the command 440. Creation ofthe event also generates an event tag (or meeting tag) that is used bythe feedback submission device to collect feedback and other data (ormaking the event selectable from the feedback submission and issuefeedback to the event), and by the feedback processing system toaggregate or integrate data received from the feedback submission deviceand the master application. For example, the event tag may be a filethat includes the name or an identifier of the event, the date and timeinformation of the event, the event type information, the lengthinformation of the event, identity information of the selectedpresenters, and identity information of the selected judges. In someembodiments, the event tag may have only the name or an identifier ofthe event that can be used by other application, systems, or devices toperform operations for that event. The other information can beseparated, stored, and accessed by using the event tag. The createdevent (event information or information entered in the event creationscreen 400 and event tag) is transmitted to the feedback processingsystem and the feedback submission device over the network.

After the user creates an event, the information is stored on the masterapplication or an event processing system (discussed later). Thefeedback application can request and/or poll the service of the masterapplication or event processing system for upcoming events and can storeinformation about upcoming events in the feedback application. Thefeedback application can be configured to determine when an event iscoming up to remind the user of the feedback application. The feedbackapplication also creates a tag in response to the received informationabout the upcoming event and configured the feedback display screens toallow the user to select the event and in response, the feedbackapplication automatically inputs information about the event in into thefeedback entry as necessary.

The master application includes a default algorithm or data structurethat can be modified according to the information the user entered inthe event creation screen. FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of thedefault algorithm or data structure 500 (before user modification). Thelength of each time duration (e.g., T1, T2, T3, etc.) and the number ofduration slots 502 can be determined from the event creation screen. Theduration slots with phantom lines are used show that those slots areoptional and will depend how many presenters and judges are selected. Tocreate an event, the user selects at least one presenter and one judge(enhance T1-T4 are in solid lines). The algorithm or data structure 500is used to run or execute the event. In other words, the masterapplication provides a basic event format and rules (the defaultalgorithm) for feedback giving skill learning and is configured for theuser of the master application to just simply change minor variablessuch as time duration and add individuals. The format and rules makesure that the event runs smoothly and on time.

Other arrangements of the default algorithm or data structure 500 arealso contemplated. For example, a judge's verbal feedback can be givenbefore the judge gives a feedback score. For another example, judge Acan give a feedback score and then a verbal feedback, then judge B cangive a feedback score and followed by a verbal feedback, and so forth.For yet another example, presenter B and his associated time slots(T8-T12) can be moved to a time before those of presenter A so presenterB can perform first.

The master application can be used to set different durations of time,or the exact duration for each of the T1-T18. Time durations can be setfrom the event creation screen 400 (FIG. 4 ), such as the length of theentire event and the length of each sub-event. Time durations can alsobe set from another part of the user interface of the masterapplication, such as a time duration for each judge to submit hisscores, a time duration for each judge to give feedback, a time durationfor a break between two judges' feedback, a time duration for a breakbetween two presenters' presentations, and other time durations. Thetotal time duration set through the master application should be equalto or less than the length of the event.

FIG. 5 also illustrates a timer 505 implemented by the masterapplication that is configured to operate with the algorithm (or thetime duration setting functionality and the event). After the user ofthe master application inputs the time durations, the durationinformation is sent to the timer and the timer can be set from zerosecond duration to a time duration entered in the master application.The timer can also initiate a countdown (e.g., from the entered durationsuch as 2 minutes to 0 seconds) under the instruction of the masterapplication, which can be generated by the user selecting a play commandin the master application. The countdown resolution is in seconds. Thetimer by default may have no time duration or zero second duration. Thetimer can be set to each entered time duration and initiate a countdownfor each. The countdown can be paused under the instruction of themaster application, which can be generated by the user selecting a pausecommand in the master application. The timer and its countdown progresscan be displayed on a screen of the master application and be sharedwith the slave application through the network.

For example, when the event involves three presenters and three judges,the event flows or the algorithms operate sequentially as follow:

1.) time duration 1 for presenter A to present (e.g., 5 minutes);

2.) time duration 2 for participants to submit feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

3.) time duration 3 for judges to submit their feedback score (e.g., 3seconds);

4.) time duration 4 for judge A to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

5.) time duration 5 for judge B to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

6.) time duration 6 for judge C to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

7.) time duration 7 for presenter B to present (e.g., 5 minutes);

8.) time duration 8 for participants to submit feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

9.) time duration 9 for judges to submit their feedback score (e.g., 3seconds);

10.) time duration 10 for judge A to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

11.) time duration 11 for judge B to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

12.) time duration 12 for judge C to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

13.) time duration 13 for presenter C to present (e.g., 5 minutes);

14.) time duration 14 for participants to submit feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

15.) time duration 15 for judges to submit their feedback score (e.g., 3seconds):

16.) time duration 16 for judge A to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

17.) time duration 17 for judge B to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

18.) time duration 18 for judge C to give verbal feedback (e.g., 2minutes);

Steps 7-12 and 13-18 are repeats of steps 1-6 for the other presenters.The above steps can also be understood from FIG. 5 . The event may beconfigured to flow in such a manner and this is the procedure throughwhich participants follow to formulate and issue feedback to all thepresenters. The procedure is structured to have the immediacy of givingparticipants the opportunity to enter feedback and then immediatelyafter it to see and hear the judge's score and feedback so thatparticipants can think about and assess the feedback that participantsgave in comparison. The event can progress through each stepautomatically, manually by the user selecting a command or next commandto move to the next step, by a combination thereof. The masterapplication can also automatically initiate countdown (without userintervention), can be manually initiated by the user selecting the playcommand, by a combination thereof (e.g., countdown of one duration isinitiated automatically by the master application and countdown ofanother duration is initiated manually by the user through the masterapplication). The user can press the pause command at any time to haltthe countdown. Additional time durations can be inserted if necessary,such as in between any of the aforementioned steps (e.g., there areadditional judges, need a break in between the steps, etc.) oradditional time durations after step 18 (e.g., if there are additionalpresenters).

The timer can also keep track, or the master application can implementanother timer to keep track, how far the event has progressed in time,such as there are 40 minutes remaining in the event. The masterapplication can also implement one or more timers for setting andcounting down the durations in steps 1-18.

The timer allows people to stay on time and ensure that the eventfinishes in allocated time.

The master application is a master in that it is the application that isused to create events and control the progress of the event. The user ofthe master application can control the progress of the event such as byinitiating a countdown of a time duration or moving to the next timeduration or next sub-event (e.g., starting a presentation by selecting aplay command, advancing to the next stage by clicking a next command).The slave application is a slave in that it is used to receive eventinformation, event progress information, and master application useroperation information and to convey that information. For example, thesummary of an event shown in FIG. 6 is obtained from the masterapplication. For example, the slave application transitions from FIG. 7to FIG. 8 after the user of the master application selects a startcommand 620 or an equivalent command from the master application. Thisoperation or selection is detected by the slave application through thenetwork and the slave application operates accordingly. In other words,execution of the algorithm by the master application is communicated tothe slave application. The slave application is a passive application inthat it cannot be separately controlled or be controlled through its ownapplication.

Preferably, the slave application is an application that is incapable ofcreating events or incapable of controlling the progress of the event(e.g., no commands are available to the user of the slave applicationfor selection). However, in some embodiments, the slave application maybe configured to have such capabilities but such capabilities are onlyavailable to the user of the slave application when the masterapplication fails to operate properly or under certain conditions.

A cloud computing platform such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) may be usedas part of the cognitive skill development system to facilitate thecommunication between the master application and the slave application.For example, the master application may be configured to constantlycommunicate event information, event progress information, and masterapplication user operation to the AWS and the slave application may beconfigured to constantly communicate with the AWS to obtain thatinformation such as, for example, every second. Variations arecontemplated.

Description will now be directed to the slave event software application(slave application). The slave application is configured to operateunder the control of the master application and based on the eventcreated in the master application. The slave application is alsoconfigured to operate and display graphical screens. The slaveapplication and the master application are configured to communicateover the network. In one embodiment, the slave application and themaster application are configured to communicate directly over thenetwork (e.g., no server or other central system or service is involvedin the communication). The slave application may be configured toconstantly communicate or read data from the master application, such asevery second.

In one embodiment, an event processing system or service is implementedon a cloud computing platform such as AWS that is configured tocommunicate with the master application, slave application, feedbackapplication, and other applications, devices, and systems. For example,operations by the master application can be communicated to the eventprocessing system and the information on the event processing system canbe accessed by the slave application and feedback application allowingthe slave application and feedback application to perform its operation.For instance, when the user of the master application selects a playcommand on the master application to initiate a countdown, thatselection is transmitted to the event processing system. The slaveapplication is configured to constantly communicate with the eventprocessing system and, upon detecting the selection from the eventprocessing system, the selection and countdown process are alsodisplayed on the slave application in real time. For another example,the master application and the slave application may provide the userinterface that are configured to receive the necessary information andthe actual operation is performed by the event processing system. Theevent processing system then instructs the corresponding device toperform in real time. Other combinations and variations arecontemplated.

The slave application is the application that is used to show the eventor progress of the event (e.g., how many minutes into the event, who ispresenting, who is giving feedback, etc.) to the participants, judges,presenters, and other individuals. The master application controls theflow of the event and its operations and screens may not be presented ordisplayed to the participants, judges, presenters, and otherindividuals. FIGS. 6-12 illustrate part of the user interface of theslave application and operations of the slave application.

FIG. 6 illustrates an initial screen 600 of the slave applicationshowing a summary of the event created by the master application. At thestarting time of the event, the master application may automaticallyload the event or load the event after the user of the masterapplication selects the corresponding event command in the masterapplication. After loading the event, the slave application obtains theevent information from the master application (or AWS) through itscommunication with the master application (or AWS). After obtaining thatinformation, the slave application displays screen 600 with the obtainedinformation, such as the name of the event, the entire event length(e.g., 60 minutes), the sub-event length (e.g., 7 minutes), the numberof presenters, and the number of judges. The event (or the algorithm ofthe master application) may start after the user of the masterapplication selects a command (e.g., start command) on the masterapplication to begin the event. The master application then transitionsto the presentation by the first presenter and the presentation can bestarted after the user of the master application initiates thepresentation or countdown by selecting a start command (T1 in FIG. 5 ).

The slave application communicates with the master application to obtainthis information and displays screen 700 (before selecting the startcommand) and 705 (after selecting the start command), respectively. Theslave application reaches screen 710 when the timer reaches zero. Thetransition from screen 700 to screen 705 and then to screen 710 is basedon information detected constantly from the master application, ordetected in real time. The slave application can also show who ispresenting, the number of feedback/votes he has received from theparticipants, and the next stage or sub-event of the event. The masterapplication may include a pause command configured to pause the timerand a done command configured to end the timer and enter the next stage.If the user selects the pause command, then the timer is paused and theslave application also shows that the timer is paused because itsconstant communication with the master application. If the user selectsthe done command, then the timer is ended or set to zero and the slaveapplication also shows that the timer is ended or set to zero. Forexample, the master application sends the current time on the timerevery second or every X time to the event processing system and this issent along with meeting status information such as who is currentlypresenting or which judge is currently giving feedback. The slaveapplication then reads that time and other information and updates itsdisplay of the event for its users and participants in the event. Thisconstant communication idea for obtaining information from the masterapplication also applies to FIGS. 8-11 . As such, the operation of themaster application in FIGS. 8-11 will not be discussed for the sake ofbrevity and only the operation of the slave application will bediscussed.

The slave application then transitions to FIG. 8 , which illustrates aparticipant feedback giving screen 800, or a stage where theparticipants are provided an opportunity or a time duration to givefeedback for the presentation. A timer or a countdown is also shown. Ameeting tag Event ABC is also provided so the participants can look forthe correct event in the feedback software application to submitfeedback.

The slave application then transitions to FIGS. 9A-9D, which illustratejudge feedback score giving screens, or a stage where the judges areprovided an opportunity or a time duration to give a feedback score forthe presentation. FIGS. 9A-9C show how much time the judges have to givetheir feedback scores. The master application may include a userinterface through which judges' feedback scores can be entered by theuser of the master application and communicated to the slave application(through the constant communication). In some embodiments, the system100 may provide another software application that can be installed onjudge's mobile devices and be used by a judge to enter his feedbackscores, without relying by the master application or the user of themaster application. That application can then transmit the entered scoreto the event processing system or the master application over thenetwork. The slave application then transitions to FIGS. 10A-10C, whichillustrate judge verbal feedback giving screens, or a stage where thejudges are provided an opportunity or a time duration to give a verbalfeedback for the presentation. FIGS. 10A-10C show how much time thejudges have to give their verbal feedback and when the timer reacheszero seconds, which means his time is up. FIGS. 10A-10B are directed tothe screens for the first judge. There are similar screens for thesecond judge and FIG. 10C shows when the time for the second judge isup.

The slave application then repeats the operations in FIGS. 7-10 forother presenters until the event is completed (because the way the eventis set up in the master application).

At the conclusion of the event, the slave application transitions toFIG. 11 , which illustrates a conclusion screen which is similar to theinitial screen except that the conclusion screen includes a reportcommand that is configured to generate or show feedback results uponselection.

After selecting the report command, the slave application transitions toFIG. 12 , which illustrates a basic feedback result screen. The resultsare obtained by the report command sending a request to the feedbackprocessing system (which may include the meeting tag and/or presenteridentities tags) and the feedback processing system aggregating andanalyzing the feedback using the meeting tag and/or presenter identitiestags. The basic feedback result screen includes an advanced feedbackresult command 1205 that is selectable to open on an advanced feedbackresult screen shown in FIG. 13 . The advanced feedback result screenincludes a basic feedback result command 1305 which is selectable toreturn to the basic feedback result screen.

For example, the result may include an average numerical feedback ratingfor each presented, each judge's numerical feedback rating for eachpresenter, numerical feedback rating comparison between the participantsand the judges, numerical feedback rating distribution, the total numberof feedbacks each presenter has received, and the presenter with thehighest average numerical feedback rating. The generated and presentedresults do not have participant identity information and can keepparticipants' identities anonymous.

The master application may include a next command, a start/play command,a pause command, a done command, or a combination thereof in order forthe user of the master application to move to the next stage of theevent or control the progress of the event, which may also be shown onthe slave application as seen in FIGS. 7-11 because of theircommunication arrangement (but may not be used to move to the next stageof the event or control the progress of the event like the masterapplication). The master application and the slave application may alsosimilarly include and display a report command, a basic result screencommand, and an advanced result screen command.

For example, in response to the user of the master application selectingthe next button for an event to move to a stage where a presenter is tospeak, the salve application can remove or clear an existing displayscreen that was showing information about the next presenter on theevent and displays a (small) timer on the screen that shows the timeduration for that presenter. Subsequently, in response to the user ofthe master application selecting the play button, the timer displayed onthe master application can start or show the countdown. When the timerends, the display of the salve application can be updated to display onthe screen the next stage (sub-event) that is on the event.

The timer displayed on the slave application or any other device that isviewing the master application display screen or information for thatevent is based on obtaining the time information from the masterapplication (timer of the master application) independent of any localtime capabilities of the slave application or other device. The timerthat is displayed would then track the time (display the time) that ison the master application, or that the master application has sent tothe event processing system or AWS, which is obtained by the otherdevice.

The system may include an audio system based on text-to-speechtechnology that is configured to speak texts (e.g., name of thepresenter, allotted time for presentation and feedback giving, how muchtime is remaining, what feedback score each judge gave, etc.). The audiosystem is accessible by the master application or the slave applicationto provide the appropriate audio at the right time. This voicemoderation helps facilitate the entire event and makes it easy foraudience to know what action to do when.

FIG. 14 illustrates a system including the master and slaveapplications. FIGS. 15-19 illustrate operations of the master and slaveapplications shown in FIG. 14 . The mobile app refers to the masterapplication and the desktop application refers to the slave application.Their operations are understood from their figures and the presentdisclosure.

The master and slave applications are applications that may be used inconjunction with a video conferencing system or software application,WebEx. In some embodiments, the master and slave applications may bebuilt into or include a video conferencing service or functionality. Themaster and slave applications and the feedback application are twodifferent and distinct application or services, and relatedly, they havedifferent supporting infrastructure, including databases that supporttheir architecture. In other words, the described system 100 is anindependent system. By separating the system, the system allows thecompany to use web conference, use any type of web conference it wants,use multiple different conferencing tools at the same time, or not touse web conference. This separation can allow each system (the describedsystem and the web conferencing system) to work more efficiently and canavoid the need to have understand controls for web conferencing forrunning the meeting. This separation can also separate the personrunning the meeting (moderator), making this person distinct from theperson who is controlling or running the video conference. Theintegration of the described system 100 into the web conferencing systemis contemplated and variations of such integration are alsocontemplated.

The anonymous feedback giver identity data in the feedback applicationor feedback processing system is not available to the master and slaveapplications. The master and slave applications and the feedbackapplication can communicate with each other to obtain data such asinformation about an upcoming event and display that information aboutan upcoming event in the feedback application such as by using a meetingnotification or other popup or notification in the mobile app. Thefeedback processing system would be configured to restrict and segregatefeedback about individuals (e.g., feedback messages and feedback giver'sidentity) from being available to the master and slave applications. Theevent processing system can pull data from the feedback application(e.g., feedback message) and the mater application (e.g., judge'snumerical rating) and combine judges' numeral scores with theparticipants' numerical scores.

The event is preferably a live event that the participants, presenters,judges, and other individuals attend together at the same time (see FIG.2 ). Using the electronic event facilitating system provides featuresand assurances that are not possible manually. Participants can enterfeedback during the event “live,” which is anonymous and not traceableto that use. In a manual implementation (such as paper), there would bea risk or concern that that the feedback or information would be seen orassociated with the individual by the moderator (user of the masterapplication), those involved in moderating the event, or peerparticipants.

The application discusses a master application and a slave application.In variations, the two applications can be a “one” software applicationthat exists in and is running across multiple devices such as a masterdevice and a slave device and as part of this can cause the master andslave applications to function as described. The master application isconfigured to a have an event format that is repeatedly used for theexercise. This way, the user of the master application does not have tomake many selection or configuration decisions.

The master and slave applications can be used, implemented, orconfigured for purposes other than facilitating events. The master andslave applications can also be standalone that are configured toprimarily or dedicated to create, schedule, and run an event or meetingof a particular type (other than presentation or feedback-relatedevents).

The procedure described in this application can be implemented once aweek or at another frequency to repetitively train employees' feedbackgiving skills.

An electronic device may be a desktop computer, laptop computer, atablet computer, a cellular device, a mobile device, a smartphone, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), or other computer system having amicroprocessor and memory. Although FIGS. 3-4, 6-13 appear to show thatthe master and slave applications are installed on an iPad, it isunderstood that the iPad is used for illustration purposes only, and themaster and slave applications may also be installed on other electronicdevices such as desktop computer, laptop computer, a tablet computer, acellular device, a mobile device, a smartphone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), or other computer system having a microprocessor andmemory.

An electronic device or a server includes a microprocessor and memory(transitory storage), non-transitory storage, display, network interfaceconfigured to communicate with a communications network, I/O circuitry,and other electronic components. An electronic device including acombination thereof is also contemplated. For example, an electronicdevice or a server includes a processer and non-transitory memory thatstores computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the processor, configures the processor to performoperations specified by the instructions.

A server may have larger memory and larger storage capacity than thoseof an electronic device and has the capability of sustaining concurrentdata communication with multiple end users or client devices. Anelectronic device may be a client device. In FIGS. 1 and 2 , devices105, 110, 115 may be client devices and the feedback processing system120 and the event processing system may be implemented on a server (onthe same server or separate servers).

Timer is an electronic clock used for setting and measuring timeintervals. Timer can count downwards or upwards. Timer can be softwareor hardware timer.

The communications network can include Internet, a cellular network, atelephone network, a computer network, a packet switching network, aline switching network, a global area network, a local area network(LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or any number of private networkscurrently referred to as an intranet, and/or any other network orcombination of networks that can accommodate data communication.Preferably, the communication network is the internet. Such networks maybe implemented with any number of hardware and software components,transmission media, and network protocols. Although FIG. 1 representsthe network as a single network, the network can include multipleinterconnected networks listed above.

In some embodiments, the master and slave application and/or thefeedback application are connected to the event processing system, thefeedback processing system, or the server through WiFi, cellularnetwork, and/or the internet to provide functionality and work withtheir supporting servers. The master and slave application and/or thefeedback application do not, for example, use the company's localenterprise network to communicate with a company server.

Commands may include windows, fields, icons, buttons, and the like thatallow the user to enter, select, or otherwise provide information to asoftware application. The user may utilize commands to enter informationthrough peripheral devices such as a keyboard, mouse, monitor,touch-screen, and the like.web

Participant feedback may include a feedback message and a numericalfeedback score (e.g., 1, 2, 3, and 4). Judges feedback may include anumerical feedback score (e.g., 1, 2, 3, and 4) and a verbal feedback.

User of the master application or first electronic device can bereferred to as an administrator or moderator, or an event administratoror event moderator. Access to the master application (e.g.,administrator access) may be provided on team basis, such as given toteam leaders only.

It is understood from the above description that the functionality andfeatures of the systems, devices, or methods of embodiments of thepresent invention include generating and sending signals to accomplishthe actions.

It should be understood that variations, clarifications, ormodifications are contemplated. Applications of the technology to otherfields are also contemplated.

Exemplary systems, devices, and methods are described for illustrativepurposes. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readilybe apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, it is not desiredto limit the invention to the exact constructions as demonstrated inthis disclosure. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to falling within the scope of the invention.

Thus, for example, any sequence(s) and/or temporal order of steps ofvarious processes or methods (or sequence of device connections oroperation) that are described herein are illustrative and should not beinterpreted as being restrictive. Accordingly, it should be understoodthat although steps of various processes or methods or connections orsequence of operations may be shown and described as being in a sequenceor temporal order, but they are not necessarily limited to being carriedout in any particular sequence or order. For example, the steps in suchprocesses or methods generally may be carried out in various differentsequences and orders, while still falling within the scope of thepresent invention. Moreover, in some discussions, it would be evident tothose of ordinary skill in the art that a subsequent action, process, orfeature is in response to an earlier action, process, or feature.

It is also implicit and understood that the applications or systemsillustratively described herein provide computer-implementedfunctionality that automatically performs a process or process stepsunless the description explicitly describes user intervention or manualoperation.

It should be understood that claims that include fewer limitations,broader claims, such as claims without requiring a certain feature orprocess step in the appended claim or in the specification,clarifications to the claim elements, different combinations, andalternative implementations based on the specification, or differentuses, are also contemplated by the embodiments of the present invention.

It should be understood that combinations of described features or stepsare contemplated even if they are not described directly together or notin the same context.

The terms or words that are used herein are directed to those ofordinary skill in the art in this field of technology and the meaning ofthose terms or words will be understood from terminology used in thatfield or can be reasonably interpreted based on the plain Englishmeaning of the words in conjunction with knowledge in this field oftechnology. This includes an understanding of implicit features that forexample may involve multiple possibilities, but to a person of ordinaryskill in the art a reasonable or primary understanding or meaning isunderstood.

Software application can be implemented as distinct modules or can beintegrated together into an overall application such as one thatincludes the user interface and that handles other features forproviding the functionality to the user on his device.

It is intended that the specification and examples be considered asexemplary only, with a true scope being indicated by the claims andtheir equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for facilitating electronic eventscomprising: a first electronic device including a microprocessor andmemory storing a first event software application, wherein execution ofthe first event software application causes the microprocessor to:provide a user interface allowing a user to create an electronic event,wherein the electronic event includes a plurality of stages and the userinterface provides a list of individuals selectable by the user andallows the user to select individuals from the list to be associatedwith one or more stages in the plurality of stages; create theelectronic event and generate an electronic meeting tag of theelectronic event, implement a timer configured to operate with theplurality of stages, a plurality of commands configured to controlprogress of the electronic event; receive electronic feedback messagesfrom mobile devices; and execute the plurality of stages in theelectronic event in a sequence, wherein the plurality of commandsinclude commands configured to initiate and pause the timer upon userselection and a command configured to advance from one stage in theplurality of stages to another stage in the plurality of stages uponuser selection; a second electronic device including a microprocessorand memory storing a second event software application, whereinexecution of the second event software application causes themicroprocessor to: communicate with the first electronic device toreceive information on the progress of the electronic event and theoperation of timer; and present the received information on a monitor toshow the progress of the execution of the plurality of stages and theoperation of the timer, wherein the progress presented on the monitorshows an advancement from one stage to another stage when the userselects the command for advancement on the first electronic device, andinitiation and pause of the timer when the user selects the commands forinitiating and pausing the timer on the first electronic device; amobile device including a microprocessor and memory storing an anonymousfeedback software application, wherein execution of the feedbacksoftware application causes the microprocessor to: communicate with thefirst electronic device to receive the electronic meeting tag; andprovide a user interface showing a list of electronic meeting tags witheach associated with a corresponding electronic event, wherein the listof electronic meeting tags includes the received electronic meeting tag,and allowing a user to select the created electronic event by selectingthe received electronic meeting tag, composing an electronic feedbackmessage comprising anonymous feedback for the individuals associatedwith the selected electronic event and selecting a numerical rating forthe individuals associated with the selected electronic event, andtransmit the composed electronic feedback message and the selectedrating to the first electronic device; wherein execution of the firstevent software application further causes the microprocessor of thefirst electronic device to: communicate with the mobile device; enableelectronic feedback message composing function and numerical ratingselection function of the user interface provided by the feedbacksoftware application in one of the plurality of stages executed by themicroprocessor of the first electronic device; set the timer with aduration that determines the duration in which the electronic feedbackmessage composing function and numerical rating selection functions areenabled; generate feedback results after the first electronic devicefinishes executing the plurality of stages in the electronic event,wherein the feedback results are based on the electronic feedbackmessages and numerical ratings received from the mobile device andinclude a score for each individual associated with the createdelectronic event that is determined from the received numerical ratings;and display the generated feedback results including the score for eachindividual associated with the created electronic event on the monitor;wherein the second electronic device comprising the monitor where themonitor is implemented in a room of attendees.
 2. The system of claim 1wherein the system comprising a human resources database of anenterprise comprising identifies of employee within the enterprise,wherein the anonymous feedback application receives identities ofemployees that can be selected in the interface.
 3. The system of claim1 wherein the mobile application is implemented on mobile devices of agroup of attendees in a room attending an event.
 4. A system forfacilitating electronic events comprising: a first electronic deviceimplementing a first event software application that configures thefirst electronic device to create events and execute events, wherein thecreated event includes a plurality of stages and the plurality of stagesinclude a first stage that has a time duration, a second stage that hasa time duration, and third stages that each has a time duration, whereinthe first electronic device configured by the first event softwareapplication allows user to create an event by inputting the timeduration of the first stage and select individuals to be associated withthe first stage and individuals to be associated with the third stages,the time durations of the second and third stages are predetermined bythe first event electronic device, and wherein the first electronicdevice is further configured by the first event software application togenerate a meeting tag of the event in response to the creation of theevent; the first event software application further configures the firstelectronic device to implement: a timer configured to operate and to bedisplayed with the plurality of stages; a plurality of commandsconfigured to control progress of the event; and a user interfaceconfigured to receive feedback information; the first event softwareapplication further configures the first electronic device to executethe event in a sequence and the plurality of commands include commandsconfigured to initiate and pause the timer displayed with the pluralityof stages upon user selection and a command configured to advance fromone stage in the plurality of stages to another stage in the pluralityof stages upon user selection; a mobile device including amicroprocessor and memory storing an anonymous feedback softwareapplication, wherein execution of the feedback software applicationcauses the microprocessor to: communicate with the first electronicdevice to receive the electronic event information; and provide a userinterface showing a plurality of events, and allowing a user to selectone of the events, composing an electronic feedback message comprisinganonymous feedback for the individuals associated with the selectedelectronic event and selecting a numerical rating for the individualsassociated with the selected event, and transmit the composed electronicfeedback message and the selected rating to the first electronic device;wherein the second electronic device comprising the monitor where themonitor is implemented in a room of attendees.
 5. The system of claim 4comprising a human resources database of an enterprise comprisingidentifies of the individuals within a particular enterprise.
 6. Asystem for facilitating electronic events comprising: a first electronicdevice implementing a first event software application that configuresthe first electronic device to create events and execute events, whereinthe created event includes a plurality of stages and the plurality ofstages include a first stage that has a time duration, a second stagethat has a time duration, and third stages that each has a timeduration, wherein the first electronic device configured by the firstevent software application allows user to create an event by inputtingthe time duration of the first stage and select individuals to beassociated with the first stage and individuals to be associated withthe third stages, the time durations of the second and third stages arepredetermined by the first event facilitating device, and wherein thefirst electronic device is further configured by the first eventsoftware application to generate a meeting tag of the event in responseto the creation of the event; the first event software applicationfurther configures the first electronic device to implement: a timerconfigured to operate and to be displayed with the plurality of stages;a plurality of commands configured to control progress of the event; anda user interface configured to receive feedback; the first eventsoftware application further configures the first electronic device toexecute the event in a sequence and the plurality of commands includecommands configured to initiate and pause the timer displayed with theplurality of stages upon user selection and a command configured toadvance from one stage in the plurality of stages to another stage inthe plurality of stages upon user selection; a second electronic deviceimplementing a second event software application configures the secondelectronic device to communicate with the first electronic device andpresent execution of the event and operation of the timer to individualsin real time on a monitor based on the communication, wherein theadvancement from the one stage to the other stage and the operation ofthe timer being presented to the individuals on the monitor by thesecond electronic device depend on user selection of the correspondingcommand on the first electronic device; a mobile device including amicroprocessor and memory storing an anonymous feedback softwareapplication, wherein execution of the feedback software applicationcauses the microprocessor to: provide a user interface showing aplurality of events, and allowing a user to select one of the events,composing an electronic feedback message comprising anonymous feedbackfor one or more individuals associated with the selected event andselecting a numerical rating for the one or more individuals associatedwith the selected event, and transmit the composed electronic feedbackmessage and the selected rating to the first electronic device; whereinthe second electronic device comprising the monitor where the monitor isimplemented in a room of attendees.
 7. The system of claim 6 comprisinga human resources database of an enterprise comprising identifies of theindividuals within a particular enterprise.